Here is the Northeast (NJ), I have no choice from Nov. - March (below freezing and outside water is turned off) and have to use a good car wash to wash my cars - good I mean no brushes and hand detailed at the end (dried, windows, wheels, etc.). There are lots of other "nice" cars at the one I use (Porsche, MB, Lexus, and exotics). To date I have had no problems - i.e., broken parts or scratches. What do others do?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

I let my dealer wash my E. Soft touch fabric wash seemed o.k. to me.

That was a leaser though. I wash my S4 by hand only. I own the Audi.

 

I use a car wash year round. It has absolutly no brushes and detail work at the end is done with soft, clean towels. No problems at all. Only issue with them is they do not do the interior.

 

I live in Jersey also.I realize that we get a couple of days that reach the 50's from time to time (like today and tomorrow) and thats when I make sure that both cars get a thorough washing and if possible , a quick coat of Zaino.You just have to pick your days ans suck it up.

 

It would really depend on the color of your cars. Dark colors, Black for one I would avoid. Too easy to get scratched evenly lightly.

 

I use a local brushless car wash and it always looks great, no swirls or problems on the body with the light colored Desert Silver- however the wheel guiding track had a metal rail that did scrape the rims occcasionally on the E320, so depending on the rims I'd be careful about that. Just took the new silver gray car through yesterday and it was fine - both body and rims looks great.

 

I pressure wash my cars in a coin-op in the winter. I NEVER wash my cars in a car wash and unfortunatly, I don't have any place to wash my car indoors. What I am going to try is to pressure wash the dirt, bring a bucket of CLEAN warm soapy water in a 5 gallon bucket and rinse it with their pressure wash. That way I still control the "scratch factor" and not have to worry about freezing up my driveway and making it into an ice rink.

The again, I could move to some southern states. I hear they have a "natural" car wash. (sic!)

 

I second C43AMG's advice. We get plenty of opportunities where we can wash the car. Easier for me since my 55 is not my daily driver, so I can let it sit in the garage. Also, as someone else mentioned what color is your car. Mine is silver and I wouldn't take it to the car wash nor do I let the dealer wash it when I bring it in for service. I'm probably a bit extreme, but oh well. Anyway, if your car is black I'd rather have it dirty than let someone else wash it. Do you own or lease the car? That would also play into my decision.

Two things about the car wash that scare me. One, is the "drying" routine at the end. They typically use cheap towels that will scratch the crap out of your car. If you have to go tell them not to dry it. Just drive off and do it yourself when you get home with a GOOD HIGH QUALITY waffle weave towel. The other thing (and this is what got me into doing it myself several years ago) is if you watch the line of cars go in they will grab a wash mitt (probably a lousy one at that) stick it in the bucket and wash the car. Next car comes in and they stick the mitt in the same bucket, which is now full of all the crap from the previous car. They are now dragging a dirt covered mitt all over your paint. Gives me the chills just thinking about it!

 

Good advice....I follow something similar. My town has a so called "touchless carwash" place which is the most popular carwash in town. (Plus only $8 for a full wash + vaccumed interior!) So the machines don't touch the car...OK agreed, but there is touching! This one dude has a long armed mop and he quickly mops the lower body/wheels with some soapy mystery water from a bucket before it goes into the carwash building. The reason they do this is because the automated pressure wash alone will not get all that winter salt and dirt off the bottom part of the car. I tell them to skip that part even though they always insist. (it will scratch the HELL out of your car. That mop is used on EVERY car and it's surely full of dirt! They don't care if they scratch your lower body...99% of people wouldn't notice) I instead vouch for $2 extra for extra under-body wash which washes the underbody/lower part a bit extra with the jets. After the car comes out of the building....grope #2....6 guys come with white towels to hand dry. I don't trust it! What they do is take used towels, just throw them in a huge dryer and reuse them all day without actually cleaning them! I skip that too and just race home with the car wet and hand dry the car in my garage. The car ends up looking mint and scratch free....Clean car. Ahhh! Till the next winter storm that is!

 

$50K, $85K, whatever, its a lot of jack for transportation.

There is nothing wrong with taking good care of it. There really is not that much more effort between an A+ and a C-. Just 20% better.

And that's the difference in car washing...it just takes a little consciousness and common sense to segregate grit from water or anything else that touches your clearcoat.

In the house, you don't wipe the toilet and kitchen counters with the same rag, and then take the rag to your neighbors house and do the same. And pound for pound, houses cost a fraction of what cars do.

Not only do I detest clearcoat damage in my car, its the first thing I notice in someone else's ride. I saw a W211, dark blue, with scuffs so bad the paint just looked flat. Just retarded, go get a an Accord or Sonata if that's your attitude!

 

If they're not using microfiber towels run away.....

 

it is a car, isn't it ? soon or later, you will trade it in and get a new one.

there is nothing wrong with car wash, you only need to find a good brushless one. I think washing car is a good exercise in the warm days. but it is good to use the car wash to clean your car during the cold days, especially, car wash cleans the salt from the bottom of your car. I don't see you have a way to do it by your own.

 

I took mine to the coin wand one yesterday. I took a bucket from home and filled it there with soap and used my own micro fiber towels to clean the car. Gently rinsed it. Pulled out and used my Calif wand and a micro towel and it looked great.

 

also realize taht before you bought your car, it was sitting outdoors in the dealers lot where it was rained and snowed on. ANd im sure the dealer had washed it several times before they sold it to you.

 

I just have the dealer wash it. They do it for free and I haven't noticed any swirl marks or scratches. If I do, I'll make them fix it.

 

That's why the day I brought my car home it was clayed, polished, waxed! Get all the crap off it from sitting wherever it sat for however long it sat there. Even though my car came right off the boat to me. If my car was black, I would have insisted they do no prep at all and deliver it to me with the sticky paper still on. There's no way the dealer is going to prep/polsih/wax the car better than I will.

 

Your right Otto, it is only a car. But, I still take great pride in it and how it looks. Besides, I actually like washing / waxing. It's a nice mindless activity

I think we've already established that it's not the "brushless" aspect of a carwash that some of us die hards are worried about. On the contrary, there is LOTS of "touching" going on. Usually with dirty, cheap, towels and mitts. But, to each his own.

 

I used to go only to the dealer to get it washed but who can wait 1.5 hours for a flippin car wash. Ray Catena sucks with that, that you have to take it to the dealer and they do rather than the service center...

It's a lease, so who cares...go to Brunswick Circle Wash on Route 1

 

I go to the hand wash place at my apartment complex and it's been pretty good so far.

I also agree with others that the touch less wash is ok as long as you don't let them touch your car before and after the wash. Ask me how I'd know......

 

I do use a coin op place in the winter, wash the salt off with the pressure washer and then wash the brush they have, then wash my car top down with the brush, when it warms up, like C43 said, I make sure I put enough coats of protectant on there to allow me to continue washing it through the winter like this...

 

which hand was place would that be? Dr. Detail?

 

In The Winter Here In Ny I Go To A Hand Wash Around The Way....

 

ditto.. I've NEVER let my MB thru a brush (soft or otherwise) tunnel.. in AZ it's just dust... so I pressure wash (and undersides, wheels wells, etc) the car, the drive off for a air dry.. If on rare occasion it gets soiled do to driving thru a dirt puddle, etc.. I have it hand washed at the local Chevron/wash.

NEVER use the tunnel washes unless they are brushless..

 

The hand wash I go to is a tunnel wash, but the guys there do all the washing themselves.

 

I also rinse the salt/magnesium chloride off ASAP! I wax my cars about 4 times per year. I use a wax that I purchased at the IAA in Frankfurt, Germany and I have found it to be even better than Zyano. I just replenished my stock of this product last August and I am set for years to come. I have been using this product for 8 years and I can not say enough good things about it. The only issue is that it is barely here in the US but it is all over Germany/Europe.

I should sell this stuff, but I don't have the time to mess with this kind of side business. But just in case, the product is "Car-Lack 68 Nano-Tech," I did a quick search in Google and I found these few articles that were written in English.

http://mbclub.co.uk/forums/showpost....2&postcount=67
http://www.autopia.org/forum/showthread.php?t=51537

So back to this thread's subject. I use this product and it never looses its beading action. My 1991 300E literally looked brand new! So what I still do to my Audi and Mercedes (the Porsche is sold now :-( ) is give it a nice coating in the fall and then simply rinse the car off at my old self service car wash. I have free use of it and I know they use good quality Lee soap on their high pressure warm water soap.

This coat lets the high pressure (about 1,100 PSI, I know this because I personally rebuilt and tested the Caterpillar pumps) warm soapy water wipes all the dirt right off. I keep the wand at least 12 inches away from the paint and wheels. After a thorough rinsing (this only takes about 5 minutes if you do each car part in a disciplined way) I rinse it with regular water. This car wash has a reverse osmosis system that makes it spotless dry. So I simply drive away and never touch the paint with a brush or towel. Weather permitting and when I feel like it I then re-wash my car at the car wash and wax it by hand. This keeps my cars looking like they just came back from the showroom floor.

Another thing that I always do is park the car in the wash bay with the front wheels turned in one direction or the other, but all the way to the end. This lets me get behind the front tires (from the front on one side and the back on the other) and clean the tie rod ends and all the suspension bushings. I then bend down and get the undersides and the back of the car as best as possible. By doing this I still have all 4 disk rotors on my W211 without one bit of rust on them after 16 months and 13,500 miles and then my dealer does not believe me when I tell him that I take this car off roading and up to the mountains in snow storms. He says that the car looks brand new from underneath and in the engine compartment. My Audi also is immaculate after 10 years! I will attach a picture of the underside of my Audi after 10 years and 83,000 miles in a snowy climate where snow removers are used. You will see that my method works quite well.

I have never taken my car to an automatic car wash. If I wash my car while I am away I always use a self-service place where I can control how the water hits my car. I find that well maintained cars make me like them more. If I let my car get dirty inside or out then I fell as if the car has aged. I still let my cars get filthy for a few days if the temperatures do not allow washing them. But on these occasions I restrict my driving to just one car and this keeps one in my garage that is clean.

All of this said, I only do this because it makes me feel great when people think that my 10-year-old Audi is a new car! Otherwise cars are just a hunk of metal.

Steve

I know these pictures are NOT a W211, but my W211 is still new and these pictures are of a car that is driven hard and is 10 years old. If rinsing the car’s engine compartment and underside and brakes works this well, imagine how well the wax protected paint is holding up.